2>S5d 

/vyi^s  a 


ARGUMENT. 


Mr.  Speaker  : — A  hundred  years  ago,  within  a  year 
and  a  few  months  earlier  than  this,  there  was  an  assem¬ 
bly  in  this  goodly  city  of  Concord — a  remarkable  con¬ 
vention.  It  was  composed  of  a  few  more  than  a  hun¬ 
dred  members.  They  had  met  after  the  long  revolu¬ 
tionary  struggle,  after  the  period  of  discontent  and 
demoralization  that  followed  the  revolution — they  had 
met  in  convention  here,  in  a  church  in  Concord,  to  de¬ 
termine  whether  they  would  give  their  assent  to  the 
proposed  constitution  of  the  United  States.  If  they 
should  give  that  assent  it  would  be  the  ninth  state,  and 
it  would  give  that  constitution  validity,  and  make  the 
union  under  that  constitution  complete.  As  we  look 
back  today  upon  that  gathering,  it  seems  to  us  incredi¬ 
ble  that  these  men,  gathered  under  those  circumstances, 
could  have  hesitated  about  their  duty.  And  yet,  day 
after  day,  they  engaged  in  earnest  and  angry  debate  ; 
day  after  day,  they  debated  whether  that  great  instru¬ 
ment  should  become  Magna  Charta  of  the  young  and 
new  republic,  a  republic  upon  whose  fate  hung  the 
millions  yet  unborn,  and  whose  example  was  to  stand 
for  all  time  for  the  oppressed  of  all  nations.  And  yet 
they  stood  there,  and  they  debated  whether  they  would 
give  their  sanction  as  the  ninth  state  to  that  proposed 
constitution.  After  the  debate  had  run  several  days, 
there  arose  an  old  man  in  that  convention.  He  had 
served  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  lie  had  done  his 
duty  patriotically,  bravely  and  faithfully.  He  repre¬ 
sented  a  town  of  this  very  county.  He  stood  up  there 
and  he  said  : — “  Washington,  I  have  followed  for  seven 


WAY  ECp.MO^CS, 


apr  u  m 


4 


years,  and  I  do  not  fear  to  follow  him  now.  He  has 
signed  this  constitution ;  he  has  commended  it.  to  us ; 
and  I  am  not  afraid  to  follow  his  example  when  I  have 
followed  it  for  seven  years  through  the  Revolutionary 
war.  This  constitution  is  proposed  for  the  welfare  of 
this  nation  ;  it  is  proposed  to  unite  what  is  now  disunit¬ 
ed  ;  it  is  for  the  general  welfare,  leaving  the  people  of 
the  state  complete  masters  of  their  domestic  affairs.” 
Who  was  that  old  man  who  thus  spoke  briefly,  but  so 
pointedly  and  eloquently?  He  was  the  father  of  Daniel 
Webster. 

Gentlemen,  from  that  day  to  this,  in  my  judgment, 
never  has  a  question  been  presented  to  the  representa¬ 
tives  of  the  people  of  New  Hampshire  of  more  gravity 
than  the  one  that  concerns  us  todav.  That  was  at  the 
birth  of  the  nation.  That  was  at  the  dawn.  Today 
the  sun  has  risen  ;  it  has  passed  the  zenith,  we  hope 
long  to  shine  there  and  not  [descend.  But,  gentlemen, 
we  do  not  know  how  soon  the  sun  may  begin  to  descend. 
Some  seeds  have  been  sown  among  the  people  of  this 
country  that  may  yet  spring  up  and /‘cause  dissolu¬ 
tion.  But,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  the  republic  has  many 
years  before  it;  the  states  have  many  years  before  them. 
But,  if  the  republic  is  to  endure,  if  the  states  are  to 
stand,  it  must  be  through  the  integrity  of  the  people  and 
of  their  representatives;  it  must  be  through  their  patri¬ 
otism  and  their  courage  when  they  are  called  to  meet 
the  exigencies  that  shall  confront  them. 

We  have  one  of  those  exigencies  confronting  us  to¬ 
day.  I  feel  myself,  although  I  have  served  seven 
years  in  both  branches  of  the  legislature  of  New  Hamp¬ 
shire,  that  I  have  never  [stood  before  a^  question  that 
goes  so  deep  into  the  affairs  of  the  state,  that  touches  so 
closely  the  individuality  of  the  people  of  New  Hamp¬ 
shire. 


0 


Now,  gentlemen,  before  I  proceed  to  state  the  reasons 
which  impel  me  to  vote  for  the  indefinite  postponement 
of  the  pending  bill,  I  desire  briefly  to  advert  to  some 
suggestions  that  have  been  offered  by  the  several  gen¬ 
tlemen  who  have  defended  that  bill  upon  this  floor. 
And  I  shall  not  say,  as  the  gentleman  from  Claremont 
said,  that  no  gentleman  opposed  to  me  has  presented 
any  argument  here  with  any  solid  foundation.  I  thought 
it  was  rather  an  unkind  remark ;  because  I  recognize 
upon  this  floor,  one  who  has  spoken  in  opposition  to 
the  Hazen  bill,  who,  I  think,  is  not  only  the  peer  ot  the 
gentleman  from  Claremont,  but  the  peer  of  any  man  in 
the  state  of  New  Hampshire.  (Applause).  Years, 
long  years  ago,  Gen.  Sullivan,  in  the  legislature  of  New 
Hampshire,  at  the  sunset  of  his  life,  made  a  speech  for 
Dartmouth  college.  It  was  the  last  speech  that  he  made  ; 
and  he  stood  upon  the  floor  of  this  old  state  house,  and  he 
pleaded  for  that  institutution.  I  do  not  know,  and  you  do 
not  know,  that  the  speech  that  was  made  here  yesterday 
by  the  gentleman  from  Exeter,  may  not  be,  after  all,  the 
last  speech  that  he  will  ever  deliver  to  the  legislature,  or 
to  the  people  of  New  Hampshire.  I  trust  that  it  will 
not  be  so,  and  that  we  shall  hear  his  voice  in  this  hall 
for  many  years  to  come.  But,  if  such  should  be  the 
case,  gentlemen,  I  know  that  that  speech,  coming  as  it 
did  from  his  broad  and  logical  mind,  and  from  his  true 
and  great  heart,  will  stand  beside  the  speech  made  by 
Gen.  Sullivan  for  his  old  college  of  Dartmouth.  [Ap¬ 
plause.] 

The  gentleman  from  Claremont  has  done  me  great 
honor  upon  this  floor.  I  Ie  has  read  many  extracts  at  length 
from  the  newspaper  which  I  happen  to  publish,  and 
have  for  many  years.  I  do  not  know  where  he  obtained 
his  clippings,  and  it  is  not  material.  If  he  had  asked 
me  for  the  privilege  of  examining  my  files  for  the  year 


6 


1883,  that  he  might  ascertain  the  views  which  I  then 
addressed  to  my  readers  upon  the  pending  railroad 
questions,  I  should  cheerfully  have  given  him  the  privi¬ 
lege.  But  some  one,  I  do  not  know  who,  has  gathered 
for  him  extracts  from  my  newspaper,  taken  from  their 
editorial  and  proper  connections,  and  he  has  presentedj 
them  here  at  great  length,  for  the  purpose  of  impressing 
this  house  that  the  position  which  I  occupy  today  is  en¬ 
tirely  different  from  the  position  which  I  occupied  in 
1883. 

Well,  if  my  position  is  different  it  would  not  trouble 
.  me  much  unless  the  difference  was  one  that  involved  a 
fundamental  principle.  Four  years  is  something  of  a 
span  in  human  life.  And  if  anyone  has  that  principle 
within  him  which  broadens  him  out,  he  will  change  and 
enlarge  his  views  somewhat  in  four  years.  So  I  should 
not  care  if  it  were  true,  today,  that  I  had  somewhat 
changed  and  enlarged  my  views  within  four  years.  But, 
gentlemen,  I  stand  today  by  every  word  I  uttered  in 
1883.  I  stand  today  by  the  record,  and  I  challenge  the 
gentleman  from  Claremont,  and  I  challenge  any  gentle¬ 
man  on  this  floor  to  point  out  to  me  one  single  idea,  or 
one  single  reason,  embodied  in  the  articles  that  have 
been  read  here  from  my  newspaper  in  1883,  that  con¬ 
victs  me  of  inconsistency  in  anything  that  I  have  uttered' 
here  or  anything  that  I  shall  utter  here. 

Since  the  gentleman  has  adverted  to  that  period,  I 
desire,  also,  at  the  outset  to  advert  to  it  a  little.  In 
February,  1883, 1  took  dinner  with  the  New  Hampshire 
club,  at  Young’s  hotel  in  Boston.  There  chanced  to  sit 
beside  me  at  the  table  a  gentleman  who  has  now  be¬ 
come  well  known  in  New  Hampshire  and  in  New  Eng¬ 
land — if  he  was  not  well  known  then.  That  gentleman 
was  Mr.  James  T.  Furber,  the  general  manager  of  the- 
Boston  and  Maine  Railroad.  I  had  not  then  the 


7 


honor  of  his  acquaintance,  but  it  was  made,  as  much  as 
it  could  be  under  the  circumstances,  during  the  dinner. 
In  the  course  of  our  conversation  he  informed  me  that  it 
was  the  purpose  of  the  railroads  to  present  at  the  next 
session  of  the  legislature  of.  New  Hampshire,  a  bill  for 
general  consolidation.  During  the  conversation,  Mr. 
Furber  asked  me  what  I  thought  would  be  the  prospect 
for  his  obtaining  such  general  legislation.  After  a 
moment’s  pause,  I  said  that  I  did  not  think  the  legisla¬ 
ture  of  New  Hampshire  would  grant  such  legislation, 
unless  it  was  accompanied  by  a  railroad  commissioners’ 
act — like  that  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts.  Later  that 
afternoon,  Mr.  Furber,  being  called  to  make  some  re¬ 
marks,  took  up  the  railroad  question ;  and  he  frankly 
and  squarely  advocated  the  establishment  of  a  railroad 
commission  in  the  state  of  New  Hampshire — such  as 
they  had  in  Massachusetts.  I  think,  so  far  as  I  know, 
that  was  the  beginning  of  the  consideration  of  a  railroad 
commissioners’  bill  in  connection  with  the  general  rail¬ 
road  legislation  of  1883.  The  suggestions  that  Mr. 
Furber  made  to  me  weighed  somewhat  upon  my  mind. 
I  soon  saw  that  the  railroads  proposed  to  obtain  from 
the  legislature  of  New  Hampshire  the  general  consoli¬ 
dation  that  they  sought ;  and  I  then  made  up  my  mind 
that,  so  far  as  my  duties  as  a  newspaper  man  in  New 
Hampshire  were  concerned,  so  far  as  my  duties  as  a  cit¬ 
izen  of  the  state  were  concerned,  I  never  would  consent 
to  general  railroad  consolidation  unless  it  should  be  ac¬ 
companied  by  a  strong  railroad  commissioners’  bill. 
Now,  gentlemen,  having  the  knowledge  of  these  facts 
before  you,  perhaps  you  can  better  understand  the  ex¬ 
tracts  that  have  been  presented  here  in  yonr  hearing. 
From  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  that  controversy,  I 
never  abated  in  the  least  my  advocacy  of  a  railroad 
commission  as  the  essential  accompaniment  of  a  gener- 


% 


8 


al  railroad  law  in  this  state.  Search  the  files  of  my 
paper  from  beginning  to  end  and  you  will  find  that  to 
have  been  the  dominating  and  predominating  idea.  I 
do  not  say  today  that  I  was  right  in  that.  I  do  not 
know  that  I  was  wrong.  But  I  do  know  that  insisting 
that  a  railroad  commissioners'  bill  should  accompany  the 
general  legislation — I  do  not  know,  today,  that  I  was 
right  rn  that. 

In  furtherance  of  my  views  I  came  to  this  legislature, 
at  my  own  expense,  and  addressed  the  railroad  commit¬ 
tee  upon  the  railroad  commissioners’  bill.  The  argu¬ 
ment  which  I  made  at  that  time  was  the  only  one  pre¬ 
sented  to  the  railroad  committee  during  the  entire 
session  upon  that  bill.  And  I  will  state  here — although 
it  may  be  a  little  immodest  I  think  I  am  justified  in 
saying  it — I  will  state  here  that  in  my  argument  I 
insisted  that  the  railroad  commissioners  of  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  should  have  the  power  to  fix  the  maximum  of  fares 
and  freights.  I  knew  that  no  such  power  was  lodged  in 
the  commissioners  of  any  eastern  state ;  but  I  had  be¬ 
come  convinced  from  my  investigation  and  study  of  the 
question  that  such  power  should  be  given  them.  The 
chairman  of  that  committee  came  to  me  the  next  morn¬ 
ing  after  my  argument,  and  not  only  commended  what 
I  said,  but  he  told  me  the  committee  had  voted  unani¬ 
mously  for  an  amendment  giving  the  railroad  commis¬ 
sioners  the  power  to  fix  maximum  fares  and  freights. 
And  that  power,  gentlemen,  is  the  power  our  railroad 
commission  has  today. 

This  is  about  all  I  have  to  say  in  regard  to  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  consistency.  If  I  have  not  satisfied  every  gen- 
lemen  who  hears  me  that  the  position  which  I  took  then 
had  not  any  selfish  purpose,  that  it  had  not  in  view 
anything  detrimental  to  the  public,  then  nothing  that  I 
can  further  say  will  convince  him. 


9 


9 


I  shall  not  at  this  late  hour  travel  the  ground  that  has 
been  so  thoroughly  traversed  on  both  sides  in  regard  to 
the  intent  of  the  legislation  of  1883.  The  question  has 
been  debated  pro  and  con  very  thoroughly,  and  every 
possible  argument,  and  every  possible  authority  has 
been  stated  on  one  side  or  the  other.  I  shall  leave  the 
question  just  where  the  gentleman  from  Claremont  left 
it  yesterday,  when  he  said  to  this  house  that  he  thought 
it  was  the  intent  of  the  legislation  of  1883  to  unite  the 
Concord  road  and  these  upper  roads.  That  was  the  ex¬ 
press  and  exact  language  from  the  gentleman  from 
Claremont,  uttered  upon  this  floor  yeoterday ;  and  with 
that  authority  I  leave  this  branch  of  the  subject.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  it  was  intended,  whatever  may  have  been 
the  letter  of  the  legislation  of  1883,  that  the  Concord 
road  and  these  upper  roads  should  be  united.  Nor 
have  I  any  doubt  either  that  the  negotiations  that  were 
pending  for  the  union  of  those  roads  were  interrupted, 
as  I  said  in  my  opening  speech,  by  duplicity  and  subter¬ 
fuge.  Who  was  the  man  that  represented  the  Northern 
Railroad?  Who  was  then  president  of  the  Northern 
Railroad?  And  who  negotiated  with  the  managers  of 
the  Boston  and  Lowell  for  the  lease  of  that  road  for 
ninety-nine  years?  That  man  was  Mr.  Sherburne.  And 
it  certainly  wras  a  remarkable  piece  of  evidence  pre¬ 
sented  before  the  railroad  committee  by  Mr.  Mellen, 
the  general  superintendent  of  the  Boston  and  Lowrell, 
when  he  intimated  to  that  committee  that  there  was 
something  in  the  interview  which  he  had  with  Mr.  Sher¬ 
burne  with  reference  to  this  subject  that  he  did  not  care 
to  make  public.  The  counsel  did  not  press  him,  and 
there  it  wras  dropped.  What  are  we  left  to  infer? 
There  is  only  one  legitimate  inference  that  can  be 
drawn  from  such  a  confession  as  that;  and  that  infer¬ 
ence  is  that  there  wras  something  improper  in  that  con- 


10 


ference,  which  led  to  negotiations,  and  which  the 
gentleman  did  not  wish  to  make  public  to  the  railroad 
committee  or  to  the  legislature  of  New  Hampshire.  We 
may  well  conceive  there  may  have  been  something  of 
that  kind  when  we  consider  what  has  been  the  history 
of  that  railroad  president  and  of  the  Northern  Railroad 
from  that  day  to  this.  He  is  today,  a  fugitive  in  Europe 
— a  fugitive  from  justice  and  from  the  law  of  the  state  of 
New  Hampshire  ;  and  no  summons  from  this  state,  no 
intercession  of  his  friends  or  foes  have  been  able  to  in¬ 
duce  him  to  return.  Why?  Because,  gentlemen,  in  the 
sale  of  the  Sullivan  Railroad  by  the  Northern  Railroad 
to  the  Connecticut  River  Railroad  there  was  one  hun¬ 
dred  thousand  dollars  missing.  I  discovered  in  my  in¬ 
vestigations  as  chairman  of  the  railroad  commission  of 
the  state  of  New  Hampshire  that  the  Sullivan  Railroad 
was  sold  for  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  and  that 
the  Northern  Railroad  received  only  seven  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Where  is  the  other  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars?  Who  has  it?  Is  there  any  doubt 
in  the  minds  of  any  gentleman  here  that  this  fugitive  in 
Europe  shared  a  part  if  he  did  not  take  the  whole  of 
that  hundred  thousand  dollars?  And  he  is  the  man  who 
made  thnse  negotiations  which  cheated  the  Concord 
Railroad  out  of  the  benefits  of  the  legislation  of  1883. 
That,  gentlemen,  is  the  source  of  the  controversy  in 
which  we  are  engaged. 

.  I  was  sorry  that  the  gentleman  from  Claremont  saw 
fit  to  advert  to  the  Cheshire  lease.  Possibly  I  misun¬ 
derstood  him ;  possibly  he  did  not  intend  to  intimate 
that  there  was  anything  wrong  in  the  support  that  cer¬ 
tain  gentlemen  gave  to  the  Cheshire  Railroad  consolida- 
tion  bill.  I  hope  that  I  am  mistaken  ;  I  hope  that  I 
misunderstood  him,  or  that  he  did  not  make  himself 
clear.  But  since  he  referred  to  that  subject,  it  is  proper 


II 


that  I  als©  should  refer  to  it  and  relate  to  this  house  a 
little  history. 

There  came  to  this  legislature  early  in  the  session  a 
plucky  little  lawyer  from  Cheshire  County,  who  asked 
for  the  -passage  of  the  Cheshire  bill.  He  is  a  bright 
lawyer,  too,  and  a  persistent  one.  He  appeared  alone 
before  that  committee  and  he  asked  that  committee  to  ap¬ 
prove  a  bill — which  proposed  to  do  what?  It  proposed  to 
increase  the  capital  of  the  Cheshire  Railroad  by  one  mil¬ 
lion  dollars.  To  do  what?  To  lay  new  side-tracks,  to 
build  branches  and  extensions,  and  to  buy  new  equip¬ 
ment — to  increase  the  capital  of  the  old  Cheshire  road 
one  million  dollars  to  do  those  things.  It  immediately 
occurred  to  me  that  it  was  something  new  in  the  rail¬ 
road  policy  of  the  state  of  New  Hampshire  to  increase 
the  capital  stock  of  railroads  to  build  side  -  tracks 
and  to  buy  new  equipment.  And  I  made  the  sug¬ 
gestion  to  the  gentleman  that  before  he  insisted  upon 
incorporating  those  features  in  his  bill  he  ought  to  be 

able  to  show  to  the  committee  that  such  had  been  the 

/ 

policy  of  New  Hampshire.  Well,  he  could  not  show 
it.  He  investigated,  and  we  looked  over  together  the 
record  of  the  state,  and  we  did  not  find  a  single  instance 
in  the  whole  history  of  legislation  in  New  Hampshire 
that  she  had  ever  increased  the  capital  stock  of  a  rail¬ 
road  for  any  such  purpose  as  building  side-tracks  and 
furnishing  new  equipment.  It  was  then  suggested  to 
the  gentleman  that  he  should  eliminate  those  features 
from  his  bill  before  it  could  be  approved  by  the  com¬ 
mittee  ;  and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  upon  that  point  the 
committee  were  unanimous  ;  and  I  want  the  gentlemen 
here  to  remember  it,  because  in  something  later  that  I 
shall  say  it  will  have  a  very  important  bearing.  Those 
features  were  eliminated.  Then  there  was  just  one 
feature  left  that  I  could  not  approve — that  was  the  99- 


12 


year  lease  feature.  But  at  that  early  day  the  subject 
lay  so  undefined  before  this  legislature  that  I  did  not 
feel  like  jeopardizing  the  bill,  after  the  eliminations  had 
been  made,  by  openly  opposing  that  feature  ;  but.  I  did 
not  vote  for  the  bill  in  the  committee,  and  I  did  not 
vote  for  it  in  the  house.  So  much  for  the  suggestion  of 
the  gentleman  from  Claremont  that  there  was  some¬ 
thing  peculiar  about  that  Cheshire  railroad  bill  and  its 
introduction  and  passage  here — and  there  was,  in  the 
respects  which  I  have  narrated  to  you,  and  which  I  wish 
you  to  remember,  for  something  later  that  will  come. 

The  gentleman  from  Claremont  in  the  most  passion¬ 
ate  utterance  that  he  made  to  the  house  declared  in  sub¬ 
stance  that  he  would  lose  his  right  arm  before  he  would 
vote  for  the  Atherton  bill  which  gave  to  the  new  cor¬ 
poration  two  millions  of  surplus  of  the  Concord  Rail¬ 
road.  Throughout  this  debate  from  beginning  to  end 
on  the  other  side  the  argument  has  been  that  there  is  a 
definite,  tangible  and  considerable  surplus  in  the  Con¬ 
cord  Railroad,  that,  if  it  should  be  united  with  the  Bos¬ 
ton,  Concord  and  Montreal,  would  be  lost  to  the  state 
treasury  of  New  Hampshire.  Now,  if  that  is  so  it  is  an 
important  fact  for  us  to  know  and  consider.  If  it  is  not 
so  it  ought  not  to  weigh  anything  with  us  in  considering 
the  merits  or  demerits  of  these  bills.  Now,  is  there  any¬ 
thing  to  that  suggestion  ?  The  provision  in  the  Con¬ 
cord  Railroad  charter  in  regard  to  the  reserved  right  of 
the  state  to  take  that  road  on  making  up  the  back  divi¬ 
dend  is  precisely  the  same  as  has  been  stated  upon  this 
floor,  and  as  is  to  be  found  today  in  the  charter  of  the 
Boston  and  Maine  Railroad  and  the  charter  of  the  Man¬ 
chester  and  Lawrence  Railroad. 

If  the  Concord  Railroad  has  any  surplus  that  belongs 
to  the  state  of  New  Hampshire,  by  the  same  reasoning 
the  Boston  and  Maine  has  a  surplus  that  belongs  to 
the  state. 


*3 


The  surplus  of  the  Concord  Railroad  today,  by  the 
last  report,  is  only  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars ;  the  surplus  of  the  Boston  and  Maine,  cov¬ 
ering  precisely  the  same  things,  is  one  million  eight 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  Now,  if  there  is  anv  sur- 
plus  in  the  treasuries  of  these  railroads  that  really 
belongs  to  the  state  I  hope  the  suggestion  of  the  gen¬ 
tleman  from  Claremont  that  a  commission  be  appointed 
by  the  legislature  to  hunt  it  up  will  be  carried  out.  And 
let  us  make  it  sweeping ;  let  us  not  subject  the  Concord 
Railroad  alone  to  this  investigation,  but  let  us  extend  it 
to  the  Boston  and  Maine  as  well.  [Applause.] 

But,  gentlemen,  I  think  we  can  discover  without  wait¬ 
ing  for  an  investigating  committee  or  any  commission, 
whether  there  is  really  any  surplus  in  these  railroads. 
I  do  not  share  the  opinion  which  has  been  expressed 
here  by  some  legal  gentlemen.  Of  course  I  do  not  in¬ 
timate  that  my  legal  opinion  is  of  any  account  as  com¬ 
pared  with  theirs.  But  I  do  not  believe  that,  if  the  state 
should  take  the  Concord  road  or  the  Boston  and  Maine, 
that  the  state  would  have  to  pay  more  than  the  back 
dividends  without  interest.  I  can  see  very  clearly,  how- 
ever,  that  that  would  be  a  question  for  litigation  between 
those  corporations  and  the  state.  It  would  have  to  be 
settled,  and  it  might  take  a  long  time  to  settle  it ;  and 
the  courts  of  last  resort  might  say  that  interest  should 
be  allowed  those  corporations — although  I  do  not  think 
so.  Col.  George,  in  his  argument  before  the  committee 
in  1883,  took  the  express  and  distinct  ground  that  these 
corporations  were  not  entitled  to  any  interest  on  the 
back  dividends.  Assuming,  for  argument,  that  this  is  the 
case,  then  the  state  would  have  to  pay  the  Concord 
road  something  like  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol¬ 
lars,  in  order  to  obtain  the  property  at  $1,500,000. 
There  is  no  question  but  the  state  in  doing  that,  if  it 


T4 


could  confine  itself  right  there,  would  make  a  million  or 
two  million  dollars  by  the  operation.  In  my  opinion, 
there  is  no  question  about  that  whatever.  But,  gentle¬ 
men,  it  never  will  be  done,  it  never  will  be  done. 
Why?  Because  there  is  a  better  thing  to  do  ;  and  I  shall 
endeavor  to  show,  before  I  get  through,  there  is  a  better 
thing  to  do — a  thing  that  will  avoid  litigation,  and  will 
bring  to  the  people  of  the  entire  state  of  New  Hampshire 
all  the  benefits  that  could  possibly  accrue  from  the  state 
taking  these  roads. 

The  surplus  of  the  Concord  Railroad  is  not  in  cash  ; 
that  is  a  delusion  ;  there  is  no  surplus  of  the  Concord 
Railroad  in  cash — or  but  a  very  few  dollars.  The  sur¬ 
plus  of  the  Concord  Railroad  that  we  speak  of,  consists 
in  this  property,  this  fine  station  down  here,  costing  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  that  is  an  honor  to  the  Con¬ 
cord  road,  and  a  source  of  pride  to  the  entire  people  of 
the  state  of  New  Hampshire  ;  the  surplus  of  the  Con¬ 
cord  road  consists  in  the  new  brick  station  at  Nashua, 
an  elegant  station  for  that  city ;  the  surplus  of  the  Con¬ 
cord  road  consists  in  the  wharf  at  Portsmouth,  and  the 
large  outlay  that  has  been  made  upon  it;  the  surplus  of 
the  Concord  road  consists  in  the  Nashua,  Acton  and 
Boston  Railroad,  purchased  for  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars ;  the  surplus  of  the  Concord  Railroad 
is  the  North  Weare  road,  purchased  at  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  ;  the  surplus  of  the  Concord  road  is  in 
some  sixty  or  eighty  thousand  dollars  of  the  stock  of 
the  Suncook  V alley  branch,  put  in  there  to  build  that 
railroad,  while  the  Boston  and  Maine  never  has  helped 
build  a  single  mile  in  the  state  of  New  Hampshire. 
[Applause.]  This  is  the  surplus  of  the  Concord  Rail¬ 
road. 

When  the  gentleman  from  Claremont  talks  to  this 
house  about  taking  two  millions  of  that  surplus  and  dis- 


i5 


tributing  it  among  the  stockholders  of  the  Boston,  Con¬ 
cord  and  Montreal,  he  talks  to  you  the  veriest  fiction. 
The  property  of  the  Concord  Railroad,  valued,  as  I 
Believe  it  is,  above  its  cost,  at  between  three  and  four 
million  dollars,  has  been  the  accretion  of  forty  years  of 
honest,  economical  and  faithful  management  on  the  part 
of  that  road.  It  has  not  been  squandered  ;  it  has  not 
gone  into  the  pockets  of  its  directors,  or  managers,  or 
stockholders,  beyond  the  limit  fixed  at  ten  per  cent,  by 
law  ;  but  its  surplus  has  gone  into  improvements,  until 
the  Concord  Railroad,  today,  is  the  finest  piece  of  rail¬ 
road  property  of  its  extent,  in  the  United  States  of 
America. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  shall  refer  with  entire  respect,  but 
with  some  plainness  to  the  remarks  made  on  this  floor 
yesterday  by  the  gentleman  from  Exeter,  my  friend, 
Mr.  Bell.  And  I  wish  to  say  at  the  outset  that  any¬ 
thing  that  I  shall  say  here  with  reference  to  any  gentle¬ 
man,  a  member  of  this  house,  though  it  may  seem  that 
there  is  some  tinge  of  bitterness,  there  will  be  none  what¬ 
ever  in  my  heart. 

I  was  mystified — I  think  that  is  the  proper  word — I 
was  mystified  by  the  argument  which  the  gentleman 
from  Exeter  presented  yesterday.  I  do  not  know  that 
the  house  was  mystified,  but  I  certainly  was.  Because 
that  gentleman  started  out  with  these  propositions — that 
he  had  great  fear  of  the  political  power  of  railroads  ;  he 
had  great  fear  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad ;  and  he 
had  geat  fear  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  obtaining  control 
of  the  railroads  of  New  Hampshire  ;  and  he  asked  that 
the  people  of  New  Hampshire  should  rouse  themselves 
in  order  to  prevent  this  possibility.  Well,  gentlemen,  I 
share  perhaps  to  some  extent  in  the  fears  of  corporate 
power.  I  think  there  are  facts  that  warrant  us  in  sharing 
to  some  extent  that  fear.  There  may  be  facts  that  war- 


1 6 


rant  us  in  sharing  the  gentleman's  fear  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railroad  ;  but  I  say  to  you,  gentlemen,  here,  this, 
day,  that  I  do  not  stand  in  one-tenth  as  much  fear  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railroad  as  I  do  in  fear  of  some  do¬ 
mestic  corporation  with  its  headquarters  in  the  city  of 
Boston,  its  soul  in  the  city  of  Portsmouth,  and  which 
seeks  to  obtain  entire  control  of  the  railroads  of  New 
Hampshire.  [Applause.] 

The  Canadian  Pacific,  while  it  may  at  some  time 
propose  to  obtain  an  entrance  directly  into  the  city  of 
Boston,  must  do  it,  if  it  comes  through  New  Hampshire 
subject  to  the  laws  of  New  Hampshire,  precisely  as  the 
Grand  Trunk  Railway,  that  crosses  the  northern  part  of 
this  state,  is  today  and  always  has  been  and  always 
must  be  subject  to  the  control  of  New  Hampshire.  And 
with  the  natural  feeling  that  exists  among  the  people — 
that  natural  and  patriotic  jealousy  of  a  corporation  which 
exists  outside  of  the  United  States  —  I  think  public 
opinion  will  always  be  sufficient  to  keep  that  corporation 
under  a  check.  But  when  you  come  to  a  domestic  cor¬ 
poration,  that  is  at  home,  upon  your  very  hearth,  that 
can  go  out  among  the  people  and  affect  all  their  politi¬ 
cal  and  business  interests,  and  penetrate  and  permeate 
all  the  departments  of  state,  then  it  becomes  a  very 
different  thing.  The  evidence  cited  yesterday  by  the 
gentleman  from  Exeter  of  the  experience  of  California,. 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  other  states, 
is  a  complete  proof  that  the  real  fear  that  should  ani¬ 
mate  the  people  of  this  country  is  not  from  corporations 
foreign  to  the  United  States,  but  corporations  that  are 
domestic  and  are  able  to  influence  and  control  domestic 
affairs  within  the  state. 

And  right  here  let  me  say  that  I  am  glad  that  the 
Canadian  Pacific  is  built — I  am  glad  that  it  today  consti¬ 
tutes  a  competitive  power  against  the  transcontinental 


1 7 


railroads  of  the  Lnited  States.  It  is  to  furnish  an  outlet 
for  the  manufactures  of  New  England,  to  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  to  China  :  and  it  is  to  bring  the  products  of 
the  West  to  us.  In  the  evidence  submitted  here,  it  was 
shown  that  during  this  session  of  the  legislature,  four¬ 
teen  carloads  of  cotton  fabrics  from  my  own  city 
were  sent  over  the  Concord  Railroad,  over  these  upper 
roads,  over  the  Canadian  Pacific,  and  have  already  gone 
across  the  Pacific  and  are  in  use  today  in  China.  Why 
were  they  thus  sent?  Because  the  rates  by  the  Can¬ 
adian  Pacific  were  lower  than  the  rates  by  the  Suez 
canal.  That  is  the  reason  why  the  manufacturers  of 
Nashua  and  Lowell  send  their  products  by  the  Cana¬ 
dian  Pacific.  The  gentleman  from  Claremont  would 
wipe  out  all  competition.  I  suggest  to  him  that  he 
commence  with  the  Canadian  Pacific.  (Applause.) 

The  gentleman  from  Exeter,  Mr.  Bell,  said  that  the 
policy  of  New  Hampshire  previous  to  1883  had  been  to 
make  short  lines,  and  that  the  law  of  1883  revolutionized 
the  policy  of  New  Hampshire.  That  is  partly  true  and 
partly  not  true.  So  far  as  leasing  railroads  is  concerned, 
the  policy  of  New  Hampshire  for  forty  years  has  been 
to  lease.  For  forty  years,  almost  from  the  very  incep¬ 
tion  of  the  railroads  of  New  Hampshire,  it  became 
clear  and  inevitable  that  the  short  lines  must  become 
connected  and  put  under  one  management. 

Why,  the  Eastern  Railroad  in  New  Hampshire  was 
leased  forty  years  ago  to  the  Eastern  Railroad  in  Massa¬ 
chusetts.  The  Portsmouth  road  has  been  leased  to  frie 
Concord  road  more  than  a  score  of  years.  The  Atlan¬ 
tic  and  St.  Lawrence,  that  passes  through  the  northern 
part  of  the  state,  has  been  leased  to  the  Grand  Trunk 
for  many  years.  For  forty  years  we  have  been  leasing 
railroads.  This  is  no  new  thing.  What  is  there  new 
about  it?  I  will  tell  you  just  what  there  is  and  all  there 


i8 


is.  The  leasing  was  done  by  special  act  of  the  legislature 
up  to  1883.  By  the  law  of  1883,  the  roads  were 
given  the  power  to  lease  without  coming  to  the  legisla¬ 
ture.  This  law  did  not  change  the  principle  ;  it  only 
changed  the  method.  It  had  been  found  that  the  con¬ 
tests  in  the  legislature  here  had  been  attended  with 
great  expense,  not  only  to  the  railroads,  but  to  the  state, 
in  the  length  of  the  sessions  of  the  legislature.  That 
was  one  of  the  reasons  why  I  supported  the  legislation 
of  1883.  I  thought,  out  of  that  legislation,  we  could 
avoid  the  contests  that  attended  special  legislation,  but 
we  have  not  succeeded  ;  and  we  have  had  at  this  general 
session,  the  longest  and  costliest,  the  most  deplorable 
contest  that  New  Hampshire,  or,  I  believe,  any  other 
state  in  this  country  has  witnessed.  There  is  no  time, 
and  it  will  not  be  profitable,  to  attempt  to  ascertain  the 
cause.  The  ostensible  reason  lies  in  the  fact  that  the 
legislation  of  1883  was  turned  from  its  proper  course — 
that  a  corporation,  the  Boston  and  Lowell,  outside  of 
the  state,  leaped  over  the  Concord  Railroad  and  got 
posession  of  these  upper  roads  under  a  law  that  has 
since  been  declared  by  the  supreme  court  to  be  uncon¬ 
stitutional.  And  that,  gentlemen,  leaves  upon  this  leg¬ 
islature  the  onus,  the  duty,  the  unavoidable  task  of 
either  perfecting  that  legislation,  or  of  devising  some 
other  legislation,  so  that  this  contest  and  the  others  that 
have  preceeded  it  shall  not  be  repeated. 

Now,  the  gentleman  from  Exeter,  notwithstanding 
all  his  fears  of  corporate  power,  notwithstanding  all  his 
fears  of  the  Canadian  Pacific,  notwithstanding  all  the 
arguments  that  he  urged  here  against  their  being  per¬ 
mitted  to  obtain  control  of  our  railroads,  announced 
at  the  conclusion  that  he  should  support  the  Hazen 
billt  The  one  reason  that  he  urged  with  great  force 
and  more  elaboration  than  it  has  been  urged  by  any- 


19 


4 


body  else,  was  that  there  are  certain  sections,  the  8th, 
9th  and  io  in  that  bill,  that  would  give  the  Manchester 
and  Lawrence  Railroad  the  free  run  of  fourteen  miles  of 
siding  in  the  city  of  Manchester.  I  must  say  that  I  was 
astonished  that  a  gentleman  of  the  legal  acumen 
and  general  culture  and  general  information  of  the 
gentleman  from  Exeter  could  stand  up  here  and  defend 
those  sections.  I  say  that  I  was  astonished  ;  because, 
gentlemen,  if  there  is  one  thing  in  this  Hazen  bill,  that 
ought  to  receive  your  unqualified  condemnation  it  con¬ 
sists  in  those  three  provisions  that  were  injected  into 
that  bill  while  it  was  in  the  committee.  Why  ? 
Because  under  a  general  law  they  seek  to  accomplish 
by  indirection  the  utter  ruin  of  the  Concord  Railroad 
and  the  utter  destruction  of  the  great  good  that  can 
come  to  the  state  of  New  Hampshire  by  keeping  that 
railroad  intact  and  accomplishing  what  it  has  pledged 
itself  to  this  legislature  to  carry  out.  I  say  that  under 
those  three  provisions  the  Concord  Railroad,  as  a  dis¬ 
tinct  and  vital  organization  in  the  state  of  New  Hamp¬ 
shire,  cannot  stand  two  years.  Why  do  I  say  it? 
Let  me  explain.  Those  fourteen  miles  of  siding  in  the 
city  of  Manchester  penetrate  all  all  the  factory  yards  in 
that  city.  They  have  been  built  there  bv  the  Concord 
Railroad,  and  the  manufacturing  business  of  that  city 
has  been  built  up  by  the  side  of  those  tracks.  The 
life  blood  of  the  Concord  Railroad  comes  from  the  city 
of  Manchester.  Take  that  away  and  the  Concord  Rail¬ 
road  from  year  to  year  will  have  no  surplus — I  doubt 
even  if  it  could  pay  ten  per  cent,  to  its  stockholders. 
Now,  what  lies  behind  this?  Who  is  the  treasurer  of 
the  Amoskeag  corporation,  the  greatest  cotton  manu¬ 
facturing  corporation  in  the  world?  Mr.  Cooledge, 
one  of  the  directors  in  the  Boston  and  Lowell  Railroad, 
a  gentleman  who,  the  instant  the  lease  of  the  Boston  and 


20 


Lowell  was  made  to  the  Boston  and  Maine,  cleared  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  cash  by  that  lease 
in  the  appreciation  of  the  large  block  of  stock  that  he 
held.  That  lease  to  the  Boston  and  Maine  obilges 
the  Boston  and  Lowell  and  its  officers  to  help  maintain 
that  lease  in  order  that  the  Boston  and  Maine  may  be 
able  to  pay  the  seven  and  eight  per  cent,  pledged  to 
the  Boston  and  Lowell  Railroad  by  contract.  Mr. 
Cooledge  is  the  treasurer  of  the  Amoskeag  corporation,, 
and  he  is  also,  I  believe,  the  treasurer  or  a  director  in 
nearly  all  the  other  corporations  in  the  city  of  Manches¬ 
ter.  If  these  provisions  can  be  incorporated  here 
and  become  the  law  of  the  state  the  Boston  and  Maine 
Railroad  will  run  its  own  freight  cars,  drawn  by  its  own 
locomotives,  up  to  every  cotton  factory  in  the  city  of 
Manchester,  and  the  Concord  Railroad  is  disemboweled. 
That  is  what  it  means.  What  is  the  motive  behind 
this?  I  have  been  reliably  informed  that  when  the  first 
lease  of  the  Boston  and  Lowell  to  the  Boston  and  Maine 
was  drawn  it  was  not  intended  that  these  upper  roads 
should  go,  but  that  they  should  be  left  to  the  Concord 
Railroad.  But  the  Boston  and  Lowell,  at  the  head  of 
which  is  Mr.  Cooledge,  with  his  immense  wealth  of 
twenty  millions,  insisted  that  they  should  go,  and  go- 
they  did.  And  he  insists  that  these  amendments  shall 
go  into  this  bill  in  order  that  the  Concord  Railroad  can. 
be  emasculated  and  compelled  to  go  into  this  combina¬ 
tion  within  two  years.  And  what  have  they  done  in  or¬ 
der  to  bring  this  about?  They  have  put  a  provision 
into  that  law  that  cannot  be  found  in  any  other  state  in 
this  country. 

Is  that  not  an  extraordinary  proceeding?  I  would 
like  to  have  the  gentleman  from  Claremont  get  up. 

before  this  house  and  furnish  some  reason  why  there 

> 

should  be  incorporated  into  this  bill  a  provision  that 


21 


cannot  be  found  in  the  railroad  statute  law  of  any 
other  state  in  this  country — that  up  to  this  time  has 
been  sedulously  excluded  because  of  the  rights  that 
it  would  destroy,  because  of  the  dangers  that  would  be 
incurred.  There  is  not  a  statute  law  in  any  of  the 
United  States,  so  far  as  I  know,  that  allows  another  rail¬ 
road  to  run  its  own  locomotives  over  another  railroad — 
not  one  that  I  know  of,  unless  it  be  in  some  special,  un¬ 
important  and  isolated  case.  Why,  in  my  opening  re¬ 
marks  I  read  to  you  the  opinion  of  the  commissioners 
of  Massachusetts,  the  ablest,  most  eminent  and  most  au¬ 
thoritative  railroad  commission  in  America,  and  they 
pointed  out  to  you  the  wrong  to  rights  of  property 
that  such  a  thing  would  inflict,  and  the  dangers  that 
it  would  bring  with  it  to  the  traveling  public.  And 
yet  these  gentlemen  have  cunningly  engrafted  upon 
this  bill  this  provision  which  will  destroy  the  Concord 
Railroad  within  two  years.  Why,  the  last  words  of  the 
gentleman  from  Claremont  were  a  charge  to  remember 
the  surplus  of  the  Concord  road.  And  by  this  legisla¬ 
tion  they  propose  not  only  to  destroy  the  surplus  but 
but  the  Concord  road  itself.  I  say  to  you,  gentlemen, 
before  you  vote  for  this  bill  remember  not  only  the  surplus 
of  the  Concord  Railroad,  but  remember  the  vested  rights 
of  the  Concord  road,  its  stockholders  and  the  people  of 
New  Hampshire,  and  remember  the  right  to  protection 
of  life  and  limb  that  belongs  to  the  traveling  public. 
[Applause.] 

The  gentleman  from  Exeter  told  us  something  about 
the  bonds — “  the  bonds  !  the  bonds  !  ”  And  I  thought  of 
the  play  where  the  ghost  comes  in — “  the  ghost !  the 
ghost!”  “The  bonds!  the  bonds!”  What  are  these 
bonds,  and  what  are  these  pledges  that  the  Concord 
Railroad  has  put  into  its  bill?  The  Concord  Railroad 
comes  here  for  certain  legislation — affecting  what? 


22 


These  two  upper  roads — these  two  upper  roads  alone. 
What  does  the  Concord  Railroad  say  to  the  people  up¬ 
on  the  line  of  these  two  upper  roads?  It  says  to  the 
people  in  this  bill  here,  give  us  the  control  of  these  and 
we  will  pay  the  Northern  more  interest  than  the  Bos¬ 
ton  and  Lowell  is  paying ;  we  will  join  the  Boston, 
Concord  and  Montreal  to  ourselves  upon  an  equal  foot¬ 
ing  ;  we  will  share  its  burdens  and  it  shall  share  our  ad¬ 
vantages  ;  and  in  addition  to  that  we  pledge  ourselves 
,  to  make  certain  extensions,  long  desired  by  the  people 
of  the  upper  part  of  the  state  of  New  Hampshire,  abso¬ 
lutely  essential  to  its  complete  development.  Now,  the 
gentleman  from  Exeter  tells  you  that  there  is  something 
like  bribery  in  that,  and  he  says  that,  because  the 
Atherton  bill  contains  those  provisions,  it  “  bristles  all 
over  with  bribery — bristles  all  over  with  bribery  !  ” 
Is  that  so?  Is, it  a  misapprehension  on  his  part? 
Is  it  an  extravagance?  Is  it  a  fiction,  or  what  is  it?  I 
said  the  gentleman  mystified  me — and  he  mystified  me 
a  great  deal  upon  that  point.  If  that  is  bribery,  then 
ever}"  act  or  charter  which  is  sought  for  the  benefit  of 
any  town  in  this  state,  and  is  supported  by  its  represen¬ 
tatives,  is  an  act  of  bribery.  For  fifty  years  the  people 
of  this  state  have  come  here  for  charters  for  railroads, 
and  they  have  been  supported  by  the  representatives 
of  their  section  ;  and  they  have  been  supported  on  the 
ground  that  these  railroads  were  local ;  that  they  were 
essential ;  and  that  the  people  had  the  right  to  support 
them  and  to  pledge  'their  representatives  to  support 
them,  and  to  elect  representatives  only  who  would  sup¬ 
port  them.  This  has  been  the  history  of  the  state  for 
forty  years  ;  and  whoever  before  thought  it  was  bribery  ? 
Whv,  there  is  no  concealment  even  about  this.  There 
it  is  in  cold  print,  and  every  man  can  read  it  for  him¬ 
self.  Bribery  comes  by  stealth ;  it  takes  a  man  una- 


23 


wares  ;  it  appeals  to  his  sordid  passions  ;  it  never  in¬ 
vites  publicity.  But  this  does  invite  publicity,  and  there 
is  not  the  first  taint  of  bribery  about  it ;  but  there  is  an 
honorable  proposition  for  the  development  of  the  state 
of  New  Hampshire  by  the  resources  of  the  Concord 
Railroad.  Now,  I  am  for  that.  I  say  here  deliberately 
that  I  am  for  it;  and  I  am  for  this  bill  because  it  pledges 
the  Concord  Railroad ;  and  I  believe  the  Concord  Rail¬ 
road  will  carry  out  its  pledges.  (Applause.) 

Why,  gentlemen,  why  should  not  this  upper  country 
be  developed?  And  who  is  to  develop  it  unless  the 
Concord  Railroad  shall?  I  will  show  you  later,  gentle¬ 
men,  beyond  peradventure,  that  unless  the  Concord 
Railroad  makes  this  development  it  will  not  be  made 
for  many  years  to  come.  Now,  I  am  not  in  favor  of 
taking  the  surplus  of  the  Concord  Railroad  that  exisists 
in  depots,  wharves,  stations,  and  improvements  on  its 
line,  and  transporting  them  up  to  the  north  country ;  I 
am  not  in  favor  of  that,  as  some  gentlemen  would  seem 
to  have  us  believe  would  be  the  effect  of  the  Ather¬ 
ton  bill.  But  after  the  Concord  Railroad  has  cut 
down  its  fares  lower  than  any  other  railroad  in  New 
England,  I  am  in  favor,  if  it  has  a  surplus  left  of  fifty  or 
a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  of  applying  it  to  the  devel¬ 
opment  of  this  upper  country.  That  is  what  I  am  in 
favor  of,  and  I  do  not  believe  it  will  be  developed  unless 
it  is  developed  under  the  Atherton  bill. 

Now,  the  gentleman  from  Franklin,  Mr.  Aiken,  the 
other  day,  made  a  speech  here  that  did  not  mystify 
me  any.  I  was  greatly  pleased  with  it.  I  was  dis¬ 
appointed  at  times,  and  at  others  very  much  pleased. 
When  he  went  on  to  extol  the  virtues  of  the  Concord 

road,  I  almost  hoped  that  he  would  come  out  and  vote 

*  * 

for  the  Atherton  bill ;  but  when  he  went  on  and  extolled 
t  ie  virtues  of  the  Boston  and  Maine,  and  said  that  he 


24 


\ 


should  vote  for  the  Hazen  bill,  I  was  a  little  cast  down. 
But,  the  gentleman  did  say  one  thing  here  that  relieved 
the  situation  a  good  deal,  if  it  did  not  exactly  comport 
with  some  other  things  said  upon  the  same  side.  He 
said  that  it  was  as  sure  as  fate  that  the  Concord  Railroad 
must  become  a  part  of  this  great  through  line  from  the 
mountains  to  the  sea;  and  he  gave  away  this  whole 
scheme — that  this  consolidation  must  ultimately  in¬ 
clude  the  Concord  Railroad  and  its  “  surplus."  Now, 
the  gentleman  from  Franklin  is  a  frank  gentleman; 
he  is  an  able  gentleman ;  and  he  has  done  as  much  to 
develop  New  Hampshire  as  almost  any  other  man  in 
the  state,  and  I  greatly  honor  him.  And  I  also  greatly 
honor  him  for  his  frankness.  He  is  too  honest,  too 
frank  to  stand  up  here  and  attempt  to  disguise  this 
thing,  as  some  of  the  gentlemen  upon  this  floor  have. 
The  gentleman  from  Hampton  Falls,  my  co-laborer  up¬ 
on  the  railroad  committee,  Mr.  Brown,  said  that  the 
Boston  and  Maine  did  not  propose  to  intermeddle  with 
the  Concord  Railroad.  Oh,  no.  His  cue  was  •  that. 
But  it  was  slightly  interfered  with  by  the  gentleman 
from  Franklin,  when  he  said  frankly,  honestly  and 
knowingly  I  have  no  doubt,  that  it  was  proposed,  be¬ 
fore  this  thing  should  end,  that  the  Concord  Railroad 
should  be  included.  And  if  any  gentleman  here  will 
read  the  7th,  8th  and  9th  sections  in  that  bill,  and  then 
say  that  they  do  not  think  it  is  proposed  to  include  the 
Concord  Railroad,  he  reads  them  in  a  different  light 
from  what  I  can. 

I  think  I  have  said  all  that  is  necessary  and  all  that 
my  time  will  allow,  in  a  somewhat  random  way,  in  re¬ 
ply  to  the  gentlemen  who  have  preceeded  me. 

I  will  now  state  .to  you,  as  deliberately,  clearly  and 
honestlv  as  I  can,  my  reasons  whv  the  Hazen  bill  should 
be  indefinitely  postponed,  and  why  every  man  in  this 


25 


house,  no  matter  what  his  previous  predilections,  should, 
in  duty  to  himself,  to  his  state,  and  to  his  people,  vote 
for  that  motion. 

My  first  reason  resolves  itself  about  the  control  of 
these  upper  roads  for  the  next  hundred  years.  My  first 
reason  is,  that  the  Concord  Railroad  by  its  physical 
connection  with  these  two  upper  roads  is  their  natural 
ally.  Look  on  this  map  here,  which  has  been  recast  so 
as  to  show  the  Concord  Railroad  as  if  it  were  in  po- 
session  of  these  two  upper  roads.  You  will  see  there 
are  two  systems,  leaving  out  the  Cheshire  and  the  Con¬ 
necticut  River  system,  covering,  a  large  portion  of  the 
state,  and  about  equal  in  extent  and  importance.  They 
constitute  two  New  Hampshire  systems — one,  the  Bos¬ 
ton  and  Maine  system,  and  the  other  the  Concord  Rail¬ 
road  system.  Now,  I  say  that  this  is  the  natural  solu¬ 
tion  of  this  problem.  It  is  what  the  legislature  of  1883 
intended.  It  is  what  the  gentlemen  from  Claremont 
said  yesterday  was  intended  by  that  legislation  ;  and  it 
is  the  natural  thing,  and  is  today  the  thing  to  do.  Be¬ 
cause  it  gives  this  short  Concord  Railroad,  a  line  of 
thirty-six  miles,  a  northern  extension  of  150  miles  or 
more,  making  a  system  of  a  little  less  than  four  hun¬ 
dred  miles,  and  a  little  more  or  less  than  the  Boston  and 
Maine  mileage  in  the  state.  I  say,  that  the  first  reason 
why  I  am  in  favor  of  postponing  the  Hazen  bill,  is,  that 
it  proposes  to  prevent  a  natural  solution  of  the  rail¬ 
road  problem  in  the  state  of  New  Hampshire  ;  and 
instead  of  giving  to  these  natural  allies  the  opportunity 
of  creating  a  strong  system,  it  proposes  to  leap  over  the 
Concord  Railroad  and  place  those  upper  roads  in  the 
control  ot  the  Boston  and  Maine,  thus  give  it  eight- 
tenths  of  the  railroads  in  New  Hampshire.  I  say  that 
thing  is  unnatural,  it  is  abnormal,  and  is  not  the  right 
thing. 


2  6 


My  second  reason  for  voting  to  indefinitely  postpone 
the  Hazen  bill  is  that  the  Concord  Railroad  is  peculiar¬ 
ly  situated  to  carry  ont  the  desired  improvements  upon 
these  upper  roads.  I  must  say  that  considering  all  the 
facts  of  the  case  I  have  been  astonished  that  the  repre¬ 
sentatives  upon  this  floor  living  upon  those  lines  have 
not  given  more  weight  to  this  consideration.  I  do  them 
the  justice  to  say  here  and  now  that  they  desire  the  thing 
that  is  best  for  their  own  lines  and  localities.  That  is 
natural  to  us  all.  They  desire  their  roads  to  go  where 
they  will  be  of  the  most  benefit  to  the  people  and  the 
business  on  those  lines.  Now,  which  is  best  situated, 
the  Concord  or  the  Boston  and  Maine,  to  carry  out 
what  is  necessary  for  the  development  and  operation  of 
those  roads?  I  have  called  your  attention  to  the  natural 
situation.  I  call  your  attention  now  to  their  financial 
condition.  The  Concord  Railroad  has  no  debt.  Well, 
now,  that  is  really  a  fortunate  thing.  I  am  one  of  those 
persons  who  all  their  lives  are  in  debt.  I  have  not  able 
to  get  out  of  debt,  and  never  expect  to  until  the  last  day 
comes  that  lavs  mein  the  o;rave.  But  here  is  the  Con- 
cord  corporation,  a  great  corporation  that  is  out  of  debt. 
It  has  great  resources  and  it  is  ready  to  share  those 
resources  with  the  people  of  the  upper  country.  Now, 
that  is  a  great  advantage — do  not  lose  sight  of  it — that 
the  Concord  Railroad  by  its  credit,  by  its  resources,  by 
its  annual  net  income,  is  better  prepared  than  any  other 
railroad  in  the  United  States  to  help  you.  And  yet, 
you  shut  your  eyes  to  that  fact ;  you  have  not  given 
it  its  due  weight  in  the  determination  ofthis  great 
question. 

Why,  where  is  the  Boston  and  Maine?  It  has  a  loal 
of  debt — more  than  fifteen  million  dollar's  outside  cf  its 
capital  stock  and  the  capital  stock  of  its  leased  lines.  A 
debt  of  more  than  fifteen  million  dollars  !  Why,  its  own 


debt  is  enormous  ;  and  when  you  come  to  put  it  with 
the  debt  of  the  Eastern  and  the  debt  of  the  Boston  and 
Lowell  it  is  more  than  thirty  millions — the  debt  of  those 
three  roads  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  the  other  roads  they 
have  acquired. 

The  gentleman  from  Exeter  in  his  convincing  ad¬ 
dress  yesterday  anticipated  me  upon  this  point ;  but  its 
weight  deserves  repetition.  The  Boston  and  Maine 
Railroad  with  its  capital  and  debt  has  been  shown  to 
you  by  figures,  upon  this  floor,  to  stand  at  a  hundred 
million  dollars — one  hundred  million  dollars  ;  more  than 
fifty  millions  of  clear  debt. 

There  is  one  historical  fact  in  this  country  that  is 
of  great  significance,  and  that  fact  is,  that  in  about  once 
in  twenty  years  we  have  a  financial  revulsion  in  Amer¬ 
ica  ;  and  that  financial  revulsion  lasts  from  three  to  ten 
years  before  business  and  property  can  recover  from  it. 
We  had  one  of  those  financial  revulsions  in  1816, 
another  in  1837,  and  another  in  1857,  and  another  in 
1873  ;  and  if  the  historical  parallel  is  followed  we  shall 
have  another  in  seven  years.  Now,  when  that  comes, 
is  there  any  man  here  that  can  tell  me  that  the  Boston 
and  Maine,  with  its  fifty  millions  of  debt,  can  breast  the 
storm?  Is  there  anv  man  here,  who  can  tell  me  that  the 
Boston  and  Maine  will  not  follow  the  Eastern,'  and  suc¬ 
cumb  to  the  storm?  Why,  the  Boston  and  Maine  is 
expanded  six  times  as  much  as  the  Eastern  was  ex¬ 
panded  when  it  was  submerged.  I  know  it  is  fair  sail¬ 
ing  today  ;  but,  I  tell  you,  gentlemen,  the  Boston  and 
Maine  has  entered  upon  a  policy  that  must,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  have  to  stand  a  great  financial  strain 
within  a  few  years.  When  that  strain  comes,  the 
Boston  and  Maine  may  not  go  as  low  as  the  Eastern 
went ;  but  I  tell  vou  that  the  Boston  and  Maine’s  leased 
lines  will  meet  the  fate  that  the  Nashua  and  Rochester 


t 


28 

met ;  it  will  meet  the  directors  some  night  coming 
around  and  asking  you  to  scale  down  your  interest  or 
dividend  one-half.  And  you  will  do  it — you  will  do  it ; 
because,  if  you  do  not,  bankruptcy  and  the  receiver 
will  follow.  That  is  what  took  place  with  us  in  Nashua, 
only  a  few  years  ago — not  when  the  storm  came,  but 
when  we  were  recovering  from  the  storm.  And  just  as 
certain  as  fate,  if  the  Boston  and  Maine  continues  the 
policy  upon  which  it  has  entered,  of  taking  into  its  em¬ 
brace  all  the  broken  down  railroads  of  New  England 
and  sustaining  them  by  large  annual  interest,  it  must 
meet  the  storm,  and  meet  it  soon.  Then,  what  is  to 
become  of  these  two  upper  roads  leased  for  99  years? 

Your  Eastern  Railroad  in  New  Hampshire,  which 
cost  only  half  a  million  dollars,  was  leased,  for  fifty-four 
years,  I  believe,  to  the  Eastern  Railroad  in  Massachu¬ 
setts.  The  financial  storm  came,  and  they  scaled 
down  the  dividend.  That  road  today  is  receiving  but 
four  and  a  half  per  cent.,  while  it  is  earning  upon  its 
cost  thirty  per  cent.,  certainly,  if  not  more,  every  year 
that  the  road  is  operated.  And  yet,  by  that  lease  run¬ 
ning  fifty-four  years,  the  owners  of  that  stock  can  ob¬ 
tain  only  four  and  a  half  per  cent.  I  tell  you  these  long 
leases  are  susceptible  of  great  results — and  great  disas¬ 
trous  results. 

Never  in  the  history  of  the  Concord  Railroad  has 
it  been  seriously  injured  by  any  financial  convul¬ 
sion.  Its  credit  has  never  been  affected  ;  but  it  has 
gone  steadily  on,  doing  its  appointed  work,  making  im¬ 
provements  on  its  line.  No  financial  revulsion — and 
we  have  had  at  least  three  during  its  history — has  ever 
affected  its  credit.  So,  I  say  to  you,  gentlemen  of  the 
north,  upon  financial  grounds  as  well  as  natural  grounds, 
you  ought  to  give  your  support  to  the  proposition  that 
shall  place  the  control  of  your  roads  into  the  hands  of 
this  strong  and  solvent  Concord  Railroad. 


29 


Now,  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  another  reason 
why  the  Hazen  bill  should  be  indefinitely  postponed, 
and  the  management  of  these  upper  roads  placed  into 
the  control  of  the  Concord  Railroad  by  some  legislation 
we  can  devise.  A  few  years  ago  I  was  riding  in  the 
State  of  Maine  with  Mr.  Blaine,  and  during  our  conver¬ 
sation  he  spoke  to  me  about  the  great  sea-coast  line  of 
that  State.  He  told  me  that  it  was  three  thousand 
miles  in  extent,  a  fact  which  I  did  not  myself  know 
before,  but  which  I  believe  is  an  exact  geographical 
fact, — that  it  has  a  sea-coast  line,  including  all  its  inden¬ 
tations,  of  about  three  thousand  miles,  making  the  finest 
coast  in  America.  Mr.  Blaine  said  Maine  is  being  great¬ 
ly  developed  by  the  summer  business,  but  it  is  only  in 
its  infancy.  In  a  few  years,  when  the  great  West  shall 
have  its  fiftv  millions,  he  said  the  State  of  Maine  and 
the  State  of  New  Hampshire  are  to  reap  a  harvest  from 
the  people  of  those  sections  such  as  they  little  dream  of 
today.  And  I  believe  that  Mr.  Blaine  was  right — that 
we  do  not  realize  today  the  development  that  is  to  come 
to  the  mountain  and  lake  regions  of  our  State. 

Now,  it  is  proposed  that  this  lake  region  and  moun¬ 
tain  region  up  here,  which  cannot  be  duplicated  any¬ 
where  on  earth,  shall  be  passed  over  for  ninety-nine 
years  to  a  corporation  that  has  so  little  interest  in  the 
State  of  New  Hampshire,  legally,  that  when  it  took  its 
lease  of  the  Eastern  road  it  did  not  perform  its  duty 
under  the  law  of  1883  and  file  a  record  of  that  lease  in 
the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state,  although  the  law  ex¬ 
pressly  provides  that  shall  be  done.  As  chairman  of 
the  railroad  commission  of  this  state,  I  asked  the  general 
manager  one  day  why  he  did  not  comply  with  that  law, 
because  I  found  that  no  record  of  the  Eastern  lease  had 
been  made  in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state.  His 
reply  was  that  they  did  not  hold  that  they  were  required 


30 


under  the  law  of  1883  to  file  any  lease  in  New  Hamp¬ 
shire. 

I  should  like  to  know  if  the  Boston  and  Maine  Rail¬ 
road  and  the  Eastern  Railroad,  making  their  leases,  as 
every  one  supposed,  under  the  act  of  1883,  really  do 
not  believe  today  that  they  came  together  under  that 
act,  or  owe  any  allegiance  to  the  State  of  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  under  that  act.  And  yet,  gentlemen,  I  have  a 
letter  which  I  will  reed,  showing,  although  their  atten¬ 
tion  was  long  ago  called  to  it,  that  the  lease  never  has 
been  filed  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  in  accordance 
with  the  law. 

State  of  New  Hampshire, 
Secretary’s  Office.  >• 
Concord,  Sept.  22,  1887.  ) 

This  is  to  certify  that  no  lease  of  the  Eastern  Railroad  to 
the  Boston  and  Maine  has  been  presented  to  be  recorded  in 
this  office. 

A.  B.  THOMPSON, 

Secretary  of  State. 

You  will  remember  that  at  the  beginning  of  this  ses¬ 
sion  I  introduced  a  resolution  calling  upon  the  Boston 
and  Maine  to  furnish  a  copy  of  that  lease,  and  it  was 
furnished,  and  is  the  only  copy  that  I  kriow  of  that  is  in 
our  possession  here  today.  I  think  before  I  get  through 
I  can  furnish  some  facts  and  circumstances  that  will 
furnish  reasons  why  the}r  did  not  want  that  lease  filed 
here. 

I  was  speaking  of  the  subject  of  this  upper  country 
when  I  made  this  digression.  I  assume  that  the  devel¬ 
opment  of  that  country  is  only  in  its  infancy ;  I  assume 
further  that  there  is  not  a  like  piece  of  country  anywhere 
on  earth  like  that ;  and  such  I  believe  to  be  the  case. 
Travellers  who  have  stood  upon  the  Alps,  travellers 
who  have  skirted  the  lakes  of  Scotland,  travellers  who* 


3i 

have  stood  in  the  great  Yellowstone  Park,  who  have 
stood  under  the  shade  of  the  magnificent  forests  of  Cal¬ 
ifornia,  travellers  who  have  been  in  Spain,  Switzerland 
and  Italy,  returning  to  America  and  visiting  that  region, 
have  all  said  with  one  accord  that  they  have  never  found 
anywhere  a  country  equal  to  it  in  its  landscapes,  in  its 
mountains  and  its  lakes.  This  country  is  to  be  the 
Mecca  of  the  summer  tourists  and  travellers  for  the 
years  to  come.  Its  wealth  from  that  source  cannot  to- 

v  * 

day  be  estimated ;  it  is  untold,  and  it  will  last  for  years 
and  years  to  come.  And  the  railroad  that  is  to  have 
the  control  of  the  avenues  to  that  region  is  to  have  a 
source  of  income  of  immense  value  to  it.  The  Hazen 
bill  proposes  to  put  the  Boston  and  Maine  in  control, 
and  it  proposes  to  do  it,  too,  under  a  lease  for  ninety- 
nine  years  at  five  per  cent.  And  in  all  these  coming 
years,  when  the  tide  of  summer  travel  throngs  there, 
when  the  revenue  flows  in  a  steadv  stream  from  that 
source  to  the  Boston  and  Maine,  the  benefit  is  not  to 
come  back  to  you,  but  it  is  to  remain  in  the  coffers  of 
the  Boston  and  Maine. 

And  that  brings  me  to  what  is  the  most  startling,  the 
most  important,  the  most  vital  thing  in  this  whole  con¬ 
troversy;  and  I  ask  your  indulgence  if  I  am  a  little 
tedious  while  I  call  your  attention  in  detail  to  it.  The 
lease  of  the  Eastern  road  to  the  Boston  and  Maine  is 
the  most  remarkable  one  that  I  ever  heard  of  in  this 
country  or  about  which  I  ever  read.  There  is  nothing 
like  it  in  the  history  of  New  England.  I  have  examined 
a  great  many  of  the  leases  in  Massachusetts  and  I  found 
none  there  like  it.  This  lease  was  made  December  2, 
1884;  and  it  was  made  with  a  great  many  terms,  con¬ 
ditions,  items,  covenants  and  agreements.  But  the 
things  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  may  be 
briefly  summarized.  I  have  had  printed  and  laid  upon 


32 


your  desks  the  lease  of  the  Eastern  Railroad  to  the 
Boston  and  Maine  ;  and  while  I  am  upon  this  branch 
of  my  argument,  I  will  ask  you  to  follow  me  in  my 
comments  upon  that  lease,  because  you  will  discover 
there  some  things  that  I  think  will  astonish  you.  I 
think  the  gentlemen  living  upon  these  northern  lines, 
will  discover  there  something  that  will  astonish  them. 
This  is  serious  business,  gentlemen.  We  stand  here  on 
the  very  edge  of  approving  or  disapproving  a  measure 
that  involves  the  future  of  that  great  region  for  ninety- 
nine  years. 

Turn,  if  you  please,  towards  the  bottom  of  the  first 
item,  where  it  reads,  “The  railroads  and  properties 
herebv  demised  and  those  of  the  lessee  shall  be  used,  man- 
aged  and  operated  by  the  lessee  in  a  proper,  ordinary, 
and  judicious  manner,  according  to  the  best  discretion 
and  judgment  of  its  managers,  so  as  to  secure  the  largest 
amount  of  earnings  from  each  which  can  be  realized 
therefrom ,  with  due  regard  to  the  service  to  be  rendered 
to  the  public,  and  to  the  preservation  of  said  roads  and 
properties  in  good  order  and  condition  for  rendering 
such  service  efficiently  and  economically.” 

I  call  your  attention  to  the  language,  which  is  cer¬ 
tainly  very  remarkable  and  singular — “  so  as  to  secure 
the  largest  amount  of  earnings  from  each  which  can  be 

realized.”  The  prominent  idea,  and  subsequent  facts 
will  show  why  it  was  put  in  there  ;  and  the  only  idea, 
really,  is,  that  “  the  largest  amount  of  earnings  shall  be 
realized  from  that  lease.” 

Now,  turn  to  the  first  item,  where  it  provides  that 
(“The  lessee  shall  pay  the  operating  expenses  of  both 
the  lessor  and  lessee.  Such  operating  expenses  shall 
include,  as  part  thereof,  the  cost  of  ordinary  repairs  and 
renewals  ;  all  expenditures  arising  out  of  any  contract, 
obligation,  business,  negligence  or  misfeasance,  or  how- 


33 


ever  otherwise  arising,  in  any  way,  connected  with  the 
use  and  operation  of  the  railroads  and  properties  of  the 
parties  hereto,  and  including  damages  to  persons  and 
property;  insurance;  all  taxs  of  every  description,  fed¬ 
eral,  state  or  municipal,  upon  property,  business,  fran¬ 
chises,  or  capital  stock  ;  interest  upon  the  improvement 
bonds  hereinafter  mentioned,  and  payments  to  the  sink¬ 
ing  fund  for  such  bonds  ;  any  other  expenditures  here¬ 
inafter  declared  to  be  operating  expenses ;  and  the 
organization  expenses  of  the  lessor,  for  which,  in  ad¬ 
dition  to  sufficient  office  accommodations  to  be  furnished 
by  the  lessee,  there  shall  be  paid  to  the  lessor  at  the 
end  of  each  successive  three  months,  during  the  term 
of  this  lease,  the  sum  of  twenty-five  hundred  dollars 
{$2500),  which  gross  annual  payment  shall  cover  and 
include  the  three  thousand  dollars  ($3,000)  to  be  paid 
to  the  trustees  under  its  mortgage.)” 

Take  the  second  item  :  “The  lessee  shall  pay,  as  the 
same  become  due,  the  rentals  of  all  railroads  leased  to 
either  the  lessor  or  the  lessee,  and  the  interest  on  the 
permanent  debt  of  both  the  lessor  and  lessee,  a  schedule 
whereof  is  hereto  annexed,  and  to  that  end  shall  pav  to 
the  lessor  such  sums  of  money,  at  such  times,  as  shall 
enable  it  to  meet  punctually  the  interest  on  its  debt  as 
the  same  matures.” 

Now  the  third  item :  “After  making  the  payments 
specified  in  clauses  first  and  second ,  and  from  the  sur¬ 
plus  remaining  the  lessee  shall  retain  to  its  own  use  the 
sum  of  six  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  dollars  ($630,- 
000.)”  That  pays  the  Boston  and  Maine  ten  per  cent, 
on  its  capital  stock.  The  Boston  and  Maine  takes  the 
first  slice. 

Now,  fourth  :  “After  making  the  payments  and  ap¬ 
plications  specified  in  clauses  first ,  second,  and  third , 
all  surplus  then  remaining,  up  to  the  sum  of  one  hun- 


* 


34 

dred  thousand  dollars  ($100,000),  shall  be  paid  to  the 
lessor  for  its  own  use.”  That  goes  to  the  Eastern  to  re¬ 
duce  its  debt,  which  is  now  some  thirteen  or  fourteen 
millions. 

The  fifth  clause:  “  After  making  the  payments  and 
applications  specified  in  clanses  first ,  second ,  third ,  and 
fourth,  and  from  the  surplus  then  remaining  the  lessee 
shall  retain  to  its  own  use  the  sum  of  seventy  thousand 
dollars ($70,000) .”  That  goes  to  the  Boston  and  Maine. 

The  sixth  clause  :  “After  making  the  payments  and 
applications  specified  in  clauses  first ,  second ,  third , 
fourth ,  and  fifth ,  all  surplus  then  remaining,  up  to  the 
sum  of  three  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  dollars 
($336,000),  shall  be  paid  to  the  lessor  for  its  own  use.” 

‘  That  goes  to  pay  dividends  on  the  Eastern  stock  that 
had  been  receiving  no  dividends — -five  millions  in 
amount. 

The  seventh  clause  :  “  After  making  the  payments 
and  applications  specified  in  clauses  firsts  second ,  third , 
fourth ,  fifth ,  and  sixth ,  any  surplus  then  remaining 
shall  be  retained  by  the  lessee,  but  shall  be  applied  to 
permanent  improvements  upon  the  respective  proper¬ 
ties  of  the  lessor  and  lessee  fro  rata  according  to  mile¬ 
age,  including  branches  and  leased  roads,  so  far  as  such 
improvements  may  be  required,  and  the  remainder,  if 
any,  may  be  applied  to  the  purchase,  at  the  market 
price,  of  any  of  the  improvement  bonds  hereinafter  pro¬ 
vided  for.” 

Let  me  explain  the  provisions  of  the  seventh  clause 
iust  a  moment.  All  improvements  of  a  permanent  char- 


years  under  this  lease  must  be  made  fro  rata  upon  the 
mileage  of  the  entire  system  of  that  road,  which,  if  it 
obtains  these  roads,  will  be  about  two  thousand  miles. 
After  paying  dividends  on  the  Eastern  stock  and  reduc- 


t 


35 


N 


♦ 


ing  the  debt  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  annually,  if 
it  can  find  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose 
of  permanent  improvements,  it  would  have  $17,000  for 
the  year's  entire  permanent  improvement  upon  these 
two  upper  roads — and  only  $17,000.  Now,  is  there  any 
escape  from  this? — I  ask  for  light  if  there  is.  If  there 
is  any  gentleman  in  this  house  who  can  explain  it  in  any 
different  light,  I  will  thank  him  to  rise  here  and  take 
my  time  and  explain  it.  [Applause.]  I  say  that,  un¬ 
der  this  lease,  iron-clad,  made  by  the  Eastern  to  the 
Boston  and  Maine,  no  improvements  can  be  made  on 
those  upper  roads  except  in  that  ratio. 

Now,  where  are  your  permanent  improvements  com¬ 
ing  from?  If  you  want  an  extension,  who  is  to  build  it? 
By  the  very  conditions  of  that  lease  the  Boston  and 
Maine  cannot  do  it  until  all  these  conditions  are  ful¬ 
filled.  And  I  tell  you,  gentlemen,  that  explains  why, 
in  the  Hazen  bill,  there  are  no  promises  to  make  im¬ 
provements.  [Applause.] 

I  do  not  like  to  insist  upon  a  challenge  ;  but  I  repeat,, 
if  there  is  any  gentleman  here  who  can  explain  this  to 
me  or  to  you  in  any  other  light,  as  we  stand  here  today 
at  this  eventful  hour,  I  will  thank  him  to  rise  and  do  it. 

Mr.  Bell :  How  about  the  improvement  bonds  that 
are  provided  for? 

Mr.  Moore  :  Now,  the  gentleman  from  Exeter,  asks 
me — how  about  the  improvement  bonds  that  are  pro¬ 
vided  for  in  the  very  next  provision  of  this  lease.  I  am 
glad  that  the  gentleman  from  Exeter  called  my  attention 
to  that,  because  thereby  hangs  a  tale.  I  will  read  a 
little  further — “  The  lessee  shall  from  time  to  time  make 
such  permanent  improvements  in  and  upon  the  demised 
premises  as  the  requirements  of  business  may  make 
necessary  and  proper.  To  meet  the  cost  of  such  per¬ 
manent  improvements,  and  of  the  like  improvements 


36 


upon  its  own  property,  the  lessee  shall  issue  its  bonds, 
to  be  called  “Improvement  Bonds.”  Such  bonds  shall 
run  for  the  longest  period  allowed  by  law,  and  shall  be 
secured  by  a  sinking  fund,  the  annual  payments  to 
which  shall  not  exceed  (except  with  the  written  consent 
of  the  lessor)  one  and  one-half  (i  1-2)  per  cent,  of  the 
face  of  the  bonds,  and  which  said  payments,  as  well  as 
the  annual  interest  on  the  said  bonds,  shall  be  deemed 
to  be  operating  expenses,  and  be  paid  out  of  gross 
earnings  as  part  thereof.” 

.A  little  further  it  says  that  “  the  permanent  improve¬ 
ments  (which  are  provided  for  in  this  lease)  shall,  for  the 
purposes  of  this  lease,  be  as  follows,  to  wit. — ”  I  call  your 
attention  especially  to  this.  I  said,  in  speaking  of  the 
Cheshire  Railroad,  that  I  should  have  occasion  to  call 
your  attention  later  to  another  matter ;  and  that  other 
matter  is  right  under  your  eyes  here.  For  what  are 
these  improvement  bonds  to  be  issued,  upon  which  the 
Boston  and  Maine  is  not  only  to  pay  the  interest  from 
the  earnings  paid  by  the  people  and  the  business,  but 
they  are  to  provide  a  sinking  fund  of  one  and  a  half 
per  cent,  to  liquidate  these  bonds  at  their  maturity. 
Now,  for  what  purpose?  First,  for  “  any  increase  in 
track  mileage.”  Just  think  of  it — -just  think  of  it — a  cor¬ 
poration  like  the  Boston  and  Maine  providing  for  im¬ 
provement  bonds  to  run  for  the  “  longest  period  allowed 
by  law  ”  in  order  to  pay  for  “  track  mileage” !  And 
what  is  “  track  mileage  ”  ?  Sidings  are  track  mileage; 
and  upon  almost  every  great  railroad  in  New  England 
the  sidings  are  nearly  equal  to  the  main  line.  And  yet  it 
is  provided  right  here  that  improvement  bonds,  upon 
which  interest  must  be  paid  by  the  people  and  the  busi¬ 
ness,  shall  be  issued  to  pay  for  track  mileage — a  thing 
we  struck  out  of  the  Cheshire  bill  because  it  had  never 
been  known  to  the  policy  of  New  Hampshire.  Do 


37 


you  see  the  pit,  gentlemen,  in  which  you  are  about  to 
fall  if  you  pass  this  Hazen  bill? 

But  it  does  not  stop  there.  Look  at  the  next  item. 

“Any  increase  in  the  number  of  any  class  of  rolling- 
stock  over  the  number  in  existence  and  inventoried  at 
the  inception  of  this  lease.” 

A  great,  rich  and  powerful  corporation  providing  for 
improvement  bonds  to  pay  for  all  the  increase  in  its 
equipment — the  very  thing  we  struck  out  of  the  Ches¬ 
hire  bill ;  and  every  member  of  the  majority  of  that 
committee  voted  to  strike  it  out.  [Applause.]  And 
yet,  they  propose  here  by  the  passage  of  this  Hazen 
bill  to  approve  of  this  great  corporation’s  adopting  a  pol¬ 
icy  right  in  the  teeth  of  the  policy  that  has  always  ex¬ 
isted  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire. 

But  it  does  not  stop  there,  gentlemen.  Read  the 
next  clause  : 

“Third — Buildings  or  other  structures  in  the  nature 
of  improvements  to  real  estate,  which  do  not  replace  but 
are  in  addition  to  buildings  and  structures  in  existence 
at  the  inception  of  this  lease  ;  it  being  understood,  how¬ 
ever,  that  in  the  reconstruction  of  buildings  and  struc¬ 
tures  (including  bridges)  the  excess  in  cost  of  the  new 
structures  over  the  cost  of  restoring  the  old  structures  to 
•  as  good  a  condition  as  when  new,  shall  be  treated  as  an 
improvement  expense.” 

Gentlemen,  think  of  it !  A  great,  rich  and  pow¬ 
erful  corporation  providing  for  the  issue  of  improve¬ 
ment  bonds  for  the  longest  term  known  to  the  law, 
to  build  a  little  passenger  station,  to  revamp  an  old 
one  and  make  it  a  little  better,  and  provide  in  the 
lease  that  every  dollar  of  that  expense  should  be  paid 
for  by  improvement  bonds.  Why,  gentlemen,  look  at 
the  pit  in  which  you  are  about  to  fall  if  you  pass  this 


38 


Hazcn  bill, — to  put  yourselves  into  the  clutches  of  a 
great  and  powerful  monopoly  that  is  bound  by  an  iron¬ 
clad  contract  to  dispose  of  its  great  property  in  this 
manner,  and  to  do  it  bv  wringing  from  the  business  and 
the  people  the  revenue  that  is  to  pay  for  it,  while  it 
should  be  paid  for  out  of  the  earnings  as  current  ex¬ 
penses  of  a  railroad. 

Why,  gentlemen,  I  had  the  audacity  to  ask  Mr.  C.  S. 
Mellen,  general  superintendent  of  the  Boston  and 
Lowell  Railroad,  standing  right  upon  this  floor  here,  if 
he  in  his  experience  ever  heard  of  a  railroad  issuing  its 
capital  stock  to  pay  for  new  equipment.  And  he  said 
he  never  did,  for  this  reason  :  that  all  equipment  wears 
out  in  from  eight  to  ten  years,  and  if  you  issue  against 
that  any  permanent  indebtedness,  that  permanent  in¬ 
debtedness  is  duplicated  every  eight  or  ten  years,  and 
made  to  pile  up  mountain  high.  That  gentleman,  right 
upon  this  floor,  showed  the  folly  of  the  course  that  is 
marked  out  here  by  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad. 

But  they  do  not  stop  here.  They  are  after  improve¬ 
ment  bonds.  Look  at  this  ! 

Fourth:  “  The  reconstruction  of  buildings  and  struc- 
lures  and  the  reorganization  of  yards  and  terminal  fami¬ 
lies  for  freight  and  passengers  at  Boston  and  Portland.” 
You  are  to  help  pay  for  the  reorganization  of  the  yards 
and  terminal  facilities  at  Boston  and  Portland ;  and  the 
business  of  New  Hampshire,  flowing  down  in  a  steady 
stream  from  these  upper  roads  for  ninety-nine  years,  is 
lo  go  to  help  pay  for  all  these  things. 

Fifth :  Such  other  matters  and  things  in  nature  of 
new  construction  as  shall  be  agreed  to  be  such  by  the 
parties  hereto,  or  shall  be  decided  to  be  such  by  the  rail¬ 
road  commissioners  of  Massachusetts,  or  a  majority  of 
them,  upon  the  application  of  either  party. 

They  thought  of  everything  they  could,  and,  not 


39 


thinking  of  anything  more,  they  thought  of  a  general 
inclusive  clause  that  should  take  in  everything  they 
could  not  think  of. 

In  the  last  nineteen  years  the  passenger  earnings  of 
the  Boston,  Concord  and  Montreal  have  gained  206  per 
cent.  In  1864  they  were  $113,000;  in  1883  they  were 
$348,000.  The  freight  earnings  on  the  Boston,  Con¬ 
cord  and  Montreal  twenty  years  ago  were  $186,000;  in 
1883,  $503,000 — a  gain  of  172  per'  cent.  In  the  next 
twenty  years,  if  the  same  ratio  continues,  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  it  will  not,  the  passenger  earnings 
of  the  Boston,  Concord  and  Montreal  will  be  $1 ,067,1 58  ; 
and  its  freight  earnings,  $1,367,000 — an  increase  of 
nearly  200  per  cent.  It  is  about  the  same  with  the 
Northern  Railroad  ;  it  is  a  little  less,  but  the  ratio  is 
nearly  constant.  All  this  enormous  increase  in  the  bus¬ 
iness  of  these  upper  roads  is  not  to  go  to  your  benefit 
under  this  lease,  but  it  is  to  go  to  the  coffers  of  the  Bos¬ 
ton  and  Maine,  and  the  things  that  I  have  read  to  you 
must  be  carried  out  before  they  can  make  any  perma¬ 
nent  improvement  there,  unless  they  do  it  by  issuing 
permanent  improvement  bonds,  still  further  increasing 
the  indebtedness  of  the  corporation. 

Now,  look  at  the  contrasts  between  the  conditions  that 
exist  there,  and  the  conditions  that  would  follow  the 
union  of  your  roads  with  the  Concord  road.  Why,  it 
seems  to  me  that  no  gentleman  in  this  house,  coming 
here  upon  his  oath,  and  upon  his  responsibility  as  a 
representative  and  intelligent  man,  can  possibly  be  de¬ 
ceived  by  this  thing.  There  is  no  escape  from  the  con¬ 
ditions  of  the  Eastern  lease.  It  is  a  trap.  And  the 
reason  is  this :  The  Eastern  Railroad  stock,  before  that 
lease  was  made,  commanded  hardly  #any  price  in  the 
market.  As  was  told  you  by  Gen.  Marston,  it  had  gone 
down  to  three  dollars  a  share.  Now,  that  stock  fell  into 


40 


a  very  few  hands.  It  was  bought  up  largely  by  a  few 
rich  stockholders  in  that  road  and  in  the  Boston 
and  Maine.  When  that  lease  was  perfected,  which 
compelled  the  Boston  and  Maine  to  obtain  the ‘largest 
possible  revenue  that  it  could  earn,  regardless  of  any¬ 
thing  else,  and  then  to  divert  that  revenue  to  the  pay¬ 
ment  of  dividends  on  the  Eastern  stock,  that  stock  went 
right  up  within  two  years  from  io  per  cent,  up  to  135  ; 
and  it  stands  today,  at  the  last  quotation,  no,  I  believe, 
no  dividends  yet  paid.  Now,  this  is  the  scheme,  gentle¬ 
men  :  it  is  to  lift  that  great  indebtedness  of  the  Eastern 
Railroad ;  it  is  to  pay  dividends  upon  that  five  millions 
of  stock  ;  and  it  is  to  improve  those  great  properties  by 
the  issuance  of  additional  improvement  bonds,  which 
will  be  taken  by  the  capitalists  of  those  roads. 

Now,  there  is  something  beyond  this  ;  the  scheme 
does  not  end  here.  So  far  as  we  are  concerned,  I  have 
nothing  to  say  against  the  scheme  as  between  the  Boston 
and  Maine  and  the  Eastern.  But  I  say,  as  monstrous 
as  this  is  for  the  people  of  New  Hampshire,  it  is  not  the 
whole  of  it.  What  is  beyond  it?  At  the  last  session 
of  the  Maine  legislature  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad 
obtained  an  act  allowing  them  the  right  to  issue  their 
own  stock  and  buy  up  all  the  roads  with  which  they  are 
connected  in  the  states  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  and  Maine  ;  and  I  have  the  act  right  here.  They 
applied  to  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  for  the  same 
thing,  but  they  were  twice  defeated ;  but  it  is  the  cur¬ 
rent  belief  that  they  will  succeed  next  winter. 

What  does  that  scheme  embody?  The  scheme  is 
this,  I  call  your  attention  especially  to  it.  When  the 
Boston  and  Maii^e  buys  up  its  leased  lines,  that  are 
leased  anywhere  from  four  and  a  half  to  eight  per 
cent.,  and  gives  its  own  stock  in  the  place  of  that  stock, 
under  the  laws  of  this  state  and  under  the  laws  of  the 


\ 


41 


state  of  Massachusetts  and  the  state  of  Maine,  it  can 
take  ten  per  cent,  dividends.  Now,  the  gentlemen  who 
are  fortunate  enough  to  get  hold  of  these  roads,  the 
leased  lines,  and  own  the  property  and  get  the  ex¬ 
change,  are  simply  going  to  put  millions  into  their 
pockets  by  the  operation.  Because  that  stock,  when  it 
becomes  the  stock  of  the  great  consolidated  corporation, 
can  pay,  under  the  law,  ten  per  cent.  And  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  dollars  more  will  be  wrung  from  the 
people  and  from  the  business  along  the  lines. 

Gentlemen,  I  am  going  to  state  something  upon  my  own 
responsibility  as  a  man  and  as  a  representative  here.  I 
so  thoroughly  believe  that  this  Hazen  bill  is  such  an  in¬ 
iquity,  that  it  will  work  such  calamity  and  such  wrong 
to  the  people  of  New  Hampshire,  and  especially  to  these 
upper  lines,  that  I  cannot  upon  my  oath  here  as  a  repre¬ 
sentative  sit  silent  when  I  know  of  some  things  that 
ought  to  be  said  here.  And  I  say  that  upon  my  own 
responsibility,  and  as  a  representative  and  as  a  man,  I 
propose  to  state  them. 

I  charge  that  behind  this  scheme  which  I  have  de¬ 
tailed  to  you  there  is  a  stock-jobbing  and  stock-manip¬ 
ulating  plot  in  which  Boston  brokers  are  corruptly  en¬ 
gaged.  That  is  the  charge.  Now  I  propose  to  present 
you  the  proof.  There  is  a  member  sitting  in  this 
house  who,  in  a  broker's  office  in  the  city  of  Boston,  was 
offered  three  thousand  dollars  if  he  would  vote  for  the 
Hazen  bill  and  work  for  its  passage.  Why  was  it? 
Because  that  broker  is  engaged  to  parties  who  will  pro¬ 
fit  by  the  passage  of  that  bill  by  the  stock  manipulations 
that  lie  behind  it. 

I  charge,  further,  that  in  a  broker's  office  in  the  city 
of  Boston  a  member  of  this  legislature  was  shown  the 
books  of  that  broker,  and  the  transactions  were  all  ex¬ 
plained  to  him.  That  broker  made  sixty  thousand  dol- 


42 


lars  by  the  Worcester  deal.  He  furnished  the  money 
that  was  used  in  operating  that  deal.  And  he  offered 
that  member  of  this  legislature  a  chance  to  go  into  that 
deal  and  make  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  dollars  if  he 
would  vote  for  the  Hazen  bill.  That  member  is  listen¬ 
ing  to  me  at  this  moment.  I  cite  these  things  because 
because  I  believe  it  to  be  my  duty,  my  sworn  duty, 
to  state  to  you  what  lies  behind  this  great  scheme.  I 
believe  it  involves  wrong  and  calamity  to  the  state  of 
New  Hampshire,  and  that  I  should  be  faithless  to  my 
trust  if  I  sat  here  silent  when  I  know  these  things. 

Gentlemen,  I  am  not  going  to  weary  you  much  long¬ 
er.  There  is  still  one  other  phase  of  this  question,  and 
that  is  the  political  phase.  And  I  shall  advert  to  it  but 
briefly.  But  I  shall  advert  to  it  because  I  believe  it  to 
be  my  duty. 

Gentlemen,  I  am  a  Republican.  The  Republican 
party  is  in  a  majority  in  this  house  and  in  this  legislature. 
It  is  responsible  for  the  legislation.  When  I  say  that,  I 
cast  no  reflection  upon  the  minority  here.  All  majority 
parties  are  responsible  for  the  legislation  that  they  en¬ 
act.  And  whether  this  measure  be  good,  or  whether  it 
be  ill,  the  Republican  party  cannot  escape  the  ultimate 
responsibility  for  this  thing.  Now,  as  a  Republican,  I 
believe  it  to  be  my  duty  to  oppose  this  thing,  because  it 
would  be  a  wrong  and  a  calamity  to  this  state.  I  be¬ 
lieve  it  would  be  a  wrong  and  a  calamity  to  the  Repub¬ 
lican  party;  and  that  that  party,  if  this  measure  passes, 
ought  to  be  held  responsible  for  this  kind  of  legislation. 
Since  I  have  come  to  this  legislature  I  have  made  the 
acquaintance  of  several  Democrats  whom  I  never  knew 
before.  I  have  found  them  interested  in  this  measure 
just  as  I  have  been  ;  I  have  found  them  taking  the  same 
views  of  this  measure,  politically  and  financially,  that  I 
have  taken.  And  I  must  say  in  acknowledgment  to 


43 


those  gentlemen,  that  I  am  exceedingly  gratified  that  I 
have  made  their  acquaintance  at  this  session.  I  have  a 
higher  opinion,  not  only  for  those  Democrats  in  particu¬ 
lar,  but  for  all  Democrats  in  general,  from  acquaintance 
with  those  gentlemen.  I  have  found  them,  in  every  in¬ 
stance,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  simply*  actuated  by  an 
honest  and  earnest  purpose  here  to  enact  such  legisla¬ 
tion  as  will  be  for  the  interest  of  the  people  of  New 
Hampshire.  Now,  I  say  that  the  Republican  party  will 
be  responsible  for  this  legislation,  and  must  be  held  re¬ 
sponsible  for  it.  No  Republican  here  can  afford  to  place 
his  party,  and  no  Democrat  here  can  afford  to  place  his 
party  in  such  a  precarious  position  as  it  will  be  by  the 

enactment  of  this  measure. 

✓ 

.  Now,  in  1883  I  expressed  the  opinion  that  if  we  should 
have  general  consolidation  in  this  state,  with  the  rail¬ 
road  commission  and  the  courts,  the  people  would  be 
safe.  I  expressed  that  opinion  then,  believing  that  we 
would  have  in  this  state  two  or  three  systems.  I  never 
dreamed,  and  I  do  not  believe  any  one  else  really 
dreamed,  that  under  the  legislation  of  1883  it  would  be 
possible  or  practicable  for  one  corporation  to  absorb  all 
the  railroads  in  New  Hampshire.  But  that,  gentlemen, 
is  practically  the  problem  before  us  today.  Its  political 
aspect  presents  itself  to  me  a  little  different  from  the 
way  it  was  presented  in  1883.  I  have  great  respect  for 
the  courts  of  New  Hampshire.  I  believe  that  whatever 
comes  the  supreme  court  of  New  Hampshire  will  stand 
firm  and  true.  But,  gentlemen,  I  sa^here,  and  now — 
and  I  think  I  know  something  whereof  I  speak — that 
with  only  one  railroad  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire, 
your  railroad  commission  will  be  substantially  controlled 
and  owned  by  that  railroad.  That  is  my  honest  opinion, 
my  deliberate  judgment.  I  do  not  believe  it  will  be 
possible  in  the  nature  of  things  for  a  railroad  commis- 


44 


sion,  so  intimately  connected  with  the  railroad  power  of 
this  state  as  it  would  be  under  those  circumstances — I 
do  not  believe  that  three  men  can  be  selected,  or  will 
be  selected,  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  who  can 
withstand  its  blandishments.  So  I  say  that  it  is  a 
dangerous  thing  for  us  to  enter  upon  this  step.  One 
railroad  controlling  New  Hampshire  will  control  the 
politics  of  the  state.  It  is  so  in  Pennsylvania.  The  Re¬ 
publicans  have  the  good-will  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail¬ 
road  and  they  carry  the  state.  In  California,  the  Dem- 
ocrts  have  the  good-will  of  the  railroads  and  they  carry 
the  state.  And  so  it  is  everywhere.  Wherever  a  party 
gets  the  help  of  the  railroad  power,  it  is  the  dominant 
party.  The  railroad  power  in  some  way  manages  to 
control  the  state.  It  does  not  do  it  directly  ;  but  does 
it  in  that  subtle,  that  tortuous  way,  which  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  is  much  more  effective  than  direct  approach. 

A  little  incident  transpired  right  here  during  this  ses¬ 
sion  of  the  legislature,  within  a  week,  that  caps  the 
climax  of  this  argument,  and  proves  that  all  I  say  is 
true.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  it  as  an  example 
of  the  inevitable  result  that  must  follow  where  a  railroad 
man  obtains  dominant  power  in  a  state.  Down  here  in 
Rockingham  county  is  the  little  town  of  Danville.  It  is 
located  off  the  railroads  ;  it  has  but  one  mail  a  day. 
The  other  day  the  citizens  to  the  number  of  seventy- 
three,  leading  men  of  that  little  town,  petitioned 
George  E.  Dame,  superintendent  of  the  mail  service  in 
New  Hampshire, 'to  supply  that  little  town  with  an  ad¬ 
ditional  mail.  Note  the  request :  how  proper.  There 
are  shoe  factories  there.  Having  but  one  mail  is  found 
to  be  a  great  detriment  to  the  town.  The  representative 
from  that  town,  with  two  or  three  citizens,  came  to  Con¬ 
cord.  He  had  been  previously  told  by  Frank  Jones 
that  if  they  would  get  up  a  petition  there,  he  would  en- 


45 


dorse  it,  send  it  on  to  Washington,  and  they  would  get 
what  they  wanted.  They  came  up  within  a  week,  called 
upon  Frank  Jones,  presented  the  petition,  and  asked 
him  to  endorse  it.  This  was  a  petition  for  a  little  addi¬ 
tional  mail  service,  a  thing  which  is  so  necessary  to  us 
all,  whether  we  belong  to  one  party  or  to  another. 
They  asked  Frank  Jones  to  endorse  it,  as  he  had  told 
them  he  would.  Did  he  do  it?  What  was  the  ques¬ 
tion  he  put  to  them?  “Will  you  help  me  upon  this 
measure  up  here  in  the  legislature  before  I  endorse  that 
petition  ?  ”  The  gentleman  is  one  of  the  oldest  members 
of  this  house.  He  is  listening  to  me  now.  Fie  hesitated  ; 
he  said,  “I  am  a  representative  here;  this  question 
is  before  the  people  and  the  legislature  ;  I  am  under  my 
oath  to  discharge  my  duty  here,  and  do  it  rightly.  I 
did  not  suppose  when  you  said  you  would  endorse  that 
petition  I  was  to  pledge  you  that  I  would  vote  for  the 
Hazen  bill.”  Mr.  Jones  said:  “I  do  not  ask  you  to 
pledge  me,  but  I  want  you  to  help  me  before  I  will  sign 
that  petition.”  They  dallied  for  half  an  hour,  and  then 
the  representative  said  :  “  Mr.  Jones,  will  you  sign  that 
petition,  or  will  you  not?”  And  Mr.  Jones  said,  “I 
will  not  sign  it  unless  you  will  help  me.”  The  repre¬ 
sentative  left.  FIc  handed  me  the  petition,  and  here  it 
is — here  it  is  without  Mr.  Jones’  signature.  And  that 
representative  is  on  this  floor  listening  to  me  at  this 
very  moment.  [Applause.]  There,  gentlemen,  you 
have  it  in  the  green  twig.  A  man  so  powerful,  so  rich, 
so  autocratic,  that  he  will  say  to  a  representative  of  the 
people,  sworn  faithfully  to  discharge  his  duties,  say 
to  him  that  before  he  shall  have  a  little  additional  mail 
service  in  his  town,  “  Pledge  yourself  to  help  me.”  They 
left  higi  without  obtaining  his  name  to  that  petition — an 
honest  and  ingenuous  petition — to  aid  that  little  town. 
O  shame,  gentlemen  !  Shame,  gentlemen,  upon  such  a 


j 


46 


lack  of  manhood  as  that !  Shame,  gentlemen,  that  we 
have  fallen  upon  such  times  in  New  Hampshire,  that 
we  have  an  autocrat  here  who  can  say  to  a  representa¬ 
tive  of  the  people,  “Get  down  upon  your  knees,  cringe 
to  me,  pledge  yourself  to  do  my  bidding  and  my  work 
before  you  shall  have  what  is  due  you  as  a  citizen  of 
your  town.” 

And  this,  gentlemen,  is  but  a  page  of  the  chapter  that 
is  to  come  to  us  if,  for  these  long  ninety-nine  years,  you 
allow  the  railroads  to  pass  into  such  hands  as  these — to 
pass  into  the  hands  of  stock  manipulators  and  stock 
jobbers — aye,  gentlemen,  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  stock 
gamblers  and  of  political  autocrats.  This  is  only  a 
sample,  gentlemen,  whether  you  are  Republicans  or 
Democrats,  of  what  is  to  happen  to  you  by  this  legisla¬ 
tion.  You,  gentlemen,  may  cast  your  vote  for  it,  but  as 
for  me,  as  said  the  gentleman  from  Claremont,  I  say 
here  that  before  my  tongue  shall  utter  a  “no”  against 
this  motion  to  indefinitely  postpone,  I  hope  that  Provi¬ 
dence  will  paralyze  that  tongue.  [Applause.] 


* 


